The first month of the Mayoral administration of our dear Uncle Dennis is fast drawing to a close. Never ones to give a politician a fair fighting chance, we feel compelled to offer our possibly premature and probably slanted assessment of his performance so far.
Putting it bluntly, he’s old fashioned.
That estimation probably comes as no surprise. We’ve been harping on the aged nature of both Hizzoner and his closest Finkly advisers since they slunk into power last election season. But hear us out, gentle reederz. We have come to the conclusion that old-fashioned values aren’t always so bad.
Leave it to Dennis
Let’s start with D Mikey C.’s campaign obsession with tasking Block Watch and other such groups with making Toledo a “Tidy Town.” Picking up unsightly litter along our highways and byways to make us seem like a place where citizens take pride is a laudable goal.
But really, kidz, when’s the last time you heard someone under the age of seventy use the word “tidy?”
It sounds like something from a 1950s commercial for kitchen cleaning products. You know, the adverts that reinforced the gender stereotype of the overworked housewife whose wifely chore of keeping a tidy household is made oh so easy by those wonderful scrubbing bubbles? And who thereby keeps her breadwinner hubby smilin’ and cheerful?
It’s a relic of a sexist, racist age, just like the word “tidy” itself. Throw in “spic and span” and we fear an administration that is mostly friendly to old, white men, just like the era it comes from.
The initial acts of the Uncle Dennis administration seem to bear out those fears. He has shuffled the structure and moved folks around, resulting in the demotion or removal of most of the women and all of the Black folks from the outgoing Bell administration. The rare exception is the promotion of William Moton as Chief of Police, but he will enter forced retirement in a year, and Hizzoner has moved around Deputy Chiefs to make Moton’s obvious successors both, Surprise! White men.
This at a time when the voters of Toledo righted the representative imbalance on Toledo City Council. Before the election, the appointment of an at-large seat and inability of the major parties to recruit anyone but men resulted in a twelve-seat Council with only two African Americans and two women. The election ushered in a council with five representatives from the Black community and four women. Still not exactly representative of the Swamp but much better than Uncle Dennis has done.
The question has to be asked. If you truly look for the best talent in a diverse City, how do you only end up with a bunch of white guys? You make your administration look like a 1950s commercial, that’s how.
Toledoberry, RFD
Now consider the upside of Uncle Dennis’ old-fashioned values. Like integrity, and a true zeal for the public interest. And a real concern for your hometown above all things outside.
When it comes to integrity, this former beat cop has it in spades. His decisiveness in declaring the recent Level Three Snow Emergency likewise illustrated the deep concern he has for public safety. While former administrations would have likely dithered and ceded control to the County authorities, our Uncle Dennis jumped headlong into the fray.
There’s something folksy and wholesome about Dennis’ approach to his office. Like his declaration that from now on all City-funded flights will originate from our hometown Toledo Express Airport. Never mind that Dennis’ Chief of Staff Herr Reinbolt quickly declared in Grinch-like fashion that time and cost would be further considerations. We trust Uncle Dennis when he says he will use city funds to prop up public assets.
Most recently, Uncle Dennis has declared his resolve to restrict the widespread use of City-owned vehicles by members of his administration. Folks who just might possibly need to go out at night on the odd chance they might be needed at a water line break or some such nonsense have been allowed to drive to and from work for years in a Company car daily. Dennis sez those cars are rarely used for such City business, and amount to a subsidy for employees’ trips home and back to their City jobs again. A better use of funds would be simply reimbursing employees’ use of their own cars on the rare times they are needed for City emergencies. Common sense wisdom, much as you’d expect from your favorite Uncle.
The jury is still out on the direction Uncle Dennis’ stuck-in-the-Fifties mindset will take us. Here’s hoping he can accentuate the down-home values while curbing the racism, sexism, and xenophobia underlying them.
If he can, perhaps he can truly enact his new slogan, one that’s even older than his mid-century values.
You will do better in Toledo.
